CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Spectra

 

I ran up the stairs to my bedroom and started throwing clothes in my bag along with a few other items I was going to need. I stripped out of the suit I was wearing and pulled on my favorite lace and velvet long sleeved dress. I folded the suit neatly and placed it on top of the bag along with my laptop and heels.

I was just zipping up my faux lace up knee-highs when someone knocked at my bedroom door. I pulled on my jacket as I considered the two shadows under the door. The nuns rarely ever trudged up to the third floor. “Who is it?”

“Spectra, it's Penelope. There's a phone call for you downstairs.” Penelope was one of the newer nuns. Still young at only twenty.

I hesitated. I couldn't remember any one time I'd ever been called on the convent phone. Nope, not one. “I'm just getting changed. I'll come down in a second.” I pulled my bag across my body and moved to the window. Pushing it open, I climbed out onto the roof and gently closed the window again, then slid to the parapet. I moved quickly across the roof to the other end of the building.

At the far end, I prayed my clothes would shield my laptop and dropped my bag over the edge. I heard it hit and winced. The one downside to becoming insubstantial, I couldn't carry anything with me except the clothes I was wearing or what was in them. I breathed out to become incorporeal and stepped through the stone parapet, floating down to the ground.

I felt when I hit. It wasn't the same as falling whole-bodied, but you still felt the impact. Breathing in, I collected my bag and started running across the grounds. I wasn't going to exit via a gate, they might be at either of them. Instead, I went for the caretaker's cottage. There was a wood pile stacked against the six-foot stone fence.

Halfway across the grounds, a man stepped in front of me from out of nowhere. I felt his power wrapping around him like a ball of fire. Stupid sorcerers and their ability to travel through the ether. I came to a halt as he looked me over.

“Do you know who I am?” I shook my head, taking a step back. “I am Paul Samus. And you...” he smiled at me, fresh blood still clotting in his mouth. I thought I was going to puke. “…are the ghost who can cure the beasts. I thought I was being sent to collect a talented hacker till I saw you jump off that roof. Turns out it's a two-for-one deal.” I shook my head. His smile dropped away. “You should be proud of your gift.”

“No, really. I can't do what you say. The ghost bit, okay, but I can't cure anyone.” My heart was thudding in my chest. I was oath bound. They could torture me and even if I wanted to, I could never do that again.

“But you were there when it happened?” he asked. I swallowed then nodded. “Did you see it happen?”

“I saw a panther change back to human in mid-attack. I was scared and ran. That's all I saw, I swear it.”

I heard a snarl and turned my head in time to see a wolf beast racing for me. My eyes went wide as I realized it meant to attack me. I breathed out, becoming incorporeal as it sprang for me. The bag I was carrying dropped through my incorporeal body to the ground. The beast flew through me and landed with a growl on the other side. It turned back and watched me through its animal eyes.

Paul Samus chuckled. “Well, look at that, he's still a beast. So you aren't the cure. Sadly, I expect he intends to kill you, just to make sure you can't cure him. I do hate when a good pet turns feral.”

I started moving to the fence again, the beast's eyes tracking me. The sorcerer flung out his hand toward me, releasing some sort of magic, and hit me with enough force that I sucked in air as I fell to the ground, becoming corporeal. The Changeur sprang but the sorcerer flung out his other hand, and the wolf burst into a ball of howling flames. I watched, wide-eyed, pain in my chest at whatever I'd been hit with forcing me to breathe.

The sorcerer strode towards me. “A hacker of your skill will be of great value to us.” He swung his hand and pain impacted the side of my head, stars shooting across my vision, then darkness closed around me as I fell to the ground. The cold press of the ground on my cheek the last thing I felt.

* * *

I woke on a bed with white Egyptian cotton linens. I touched my hand to my head and winced. Whatever he hit me with left a bump and bruise. I pushed up to sitting and realized I was naked. I grabbed the sheets to cover me while I looked around the room to find my clothes. Long curtains were drawn across the windows so I couldn't see out. Among the few plush furnishings of the room, I couldn't see anything that resembled my clothing.

A cat sat on the settee at the end of the bed, watching me with interest. “Wouldn't happen to know where my clothes are by any chance?” The cat's head turned to the only door in the room. I doubted it was telling me that was the wardrobe.

The door opened, and the sorcerer stepped into the room with a tray containing a teapot and two teacups. “You're conscious.”

Well, at least he didn't try and pretend I'd fallen asleep happily. “I'm naked.”

He smiled, placing the tray on the settee before shooing the cat and taking its place. “Yes, you are. I wanted to see if you were food.”

“No!”

His eyes creased with humor. “Yes, the lack of scarring on your body told me that. You only have the one bite, but that was a very long time ago, over a decade I'd say. Is that what killed you?”

I sat, staring at him. “I'd prefer to be dressed for any conversation.”

“Are you always clothed when you talk with the distinguished Mr. Ryder?” I continued glaring. Paul smiled. “You don't like my kind, do you?” I gave a slight shake of my head. “Understandable. You were a child when you were attacked. That sort of thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth.” He poured two cups of tea. “Milk and sugar.”

“I don't drink tea.”

“How very un-English of you.”

“My mother was French.”

“And your father?”

“A one-night stand, so I really have no idea.”

Paul simpered and lifted his teacup to his lips. “Why were you at Bay Ryder's house when Falon Lore attacked?”

“Who's Flon Lore?”

“The sorcerer who led that attack. He died. Tripped and fell, hitting his head before falling into the pool. I guess compared to the Changeur de Corps he took with him, it was a pleasant enough way to die.”

“He was mortal?” I wrapped my arms around my bent legs and engaged in the conversation.

“Yes. We hadn't felt the need to take him yet. He wasn't really powerful enough to bother.” Paul took another sip of tea. “Bay Ryder is a different matter. Sadly, he stands opposed to our cause. What is your connection to him?”

“What cause?” I asked. “You are both the same. Condemned sorcerers. What could you really oppose each other about? A preference for blood types maybe?”

Paul quirked a brow. “Have you never heard of Essence?”

“Of course, I have. It is a philosophical term for what invariably makes up the nature of a thing or entity.”

Paul's smile died as he assessed me. “Hmmm.” I guess that wasn't the answer he was after. He put down his tea. “You're not food, it's well known Bay Ryder does not partake in the physical pleasures, and you are not involved in his Nachtwelt business. However, you were at his company today, and you did use his network to hack the NSIO and steal emails from L'Ordre’s assistant’s computer.”

“Wait. Ryder owns Pendant Security?”

Paul's brows shot up. “You didn't know?”

“No. I've just graduated. A recruiter offered me a job. I was there to interview, and they asked me to access a database. It seemed an obvious choice. I used the activity to highlight a weakness in their security.”

“You sent the email to Ryder?”

“Yes, but to his personal email account. He was a client of mine...” I stopped and swallowed.

Paul stalked forward. “Ryder hires you to hack other secure databases?”

“No.”

“But you are a hacker?”

“I did that today to satisfy my own curiosity. I didn't expect to find anything of interest, but when I found that stuff about the attack, I forwarded it on.”

Paul sat at my feet on the bed. “So, what work does Mr. Ryder normally require of you?” I glared at him. He laughed. “Are you really going to claim client confidentiality?” I gave the slightest nod. Paul sighed. He watched me, almost analyzing me. “Did it involve the antidote?”

I had no idea what this guy was on about. He sighed, reading my reaction, and stood up, walking back to collect his tea tray. “Well, it appears you really are just a hacker. However, Mr. Ryder obviously finds your skill valuable and may be willing to exchange something for you. After all, it's not every day you find a wraith.”

My blood ran cold, being identified for what I am now. There was a knock on the door and then a piece of paper was slid underneath.

Paul put the tray back down and collected the piece of paper, reading it. His eyebrows shot up, and he looked back to me. Paul waved the letter. “Everything this says I'd already determined. But I'd like to ask one last time. What were you doing at Bay Ryder's estate the night Falon Lore attacked?”

“Delivering what Bay Ryder wanted from me.”

“And I bet that something required your wraith skills. Right?”

I blinked. “Can I get my clothes now, please?”

Paul picked up the tray and walked to the door. “I promise you will have them when it's time to leave here.”

“Will I be alive when that happens?”

Paul smiled at me and gave the door a tap with his foot. It opened, but I couldn't see who was in the hallway. Paul looked up to the corner of the ceiling, and I followed his gaze. Hidden there was an infrared camera. They'd be able to see me even if I was incorporeal. Paul laughed. “Your eyes could freeze boiling water, my dear. I guess I've really pissed you off now.”

As soon as the door shut, I tugged the flat sheet from the bed and turned it into a makeshift dress. I made my way to the windows and threw back the curtains to find a blank wall. “Oh god!” I stepped away as I turned to look at the door. “Don't focus on that, Spectra. You could still be above ground. You're not buried. You can move around.”

I walked to the blank wall beside the bed and studied it. Eventually, I saw the seam, and I pressed on the opposite side. A hidden door opened to reveal a bathroom, also with no windows and its own infrared camera. “Well, that's just rude.”

Moving back into the bedroom, I lay down on the bed and practiced the meditation Alexander taught me when we were growing up. I focused on my breathing and my heart rate, slowly blocking every other noise out till my breath and heartbeat were all I could hear. I felt myself growing lighter with every breath until I felt like I was floating above the bed.

I opened my eyes to look at the ceiling and watched it coming closer. Turning, I saw myself still lying on the bed as if asleep. I smiled and closed my eyes, concentrating on Mercury. I felt the pull easily. As I started to move, I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of the outside of the building before I sped across the rooftops and came to a stop in a cafe. I looked around and saw Mercury sitting a few tables away, playing with his food, while Calin and some other predators inhaled their meals.

I went to the table and waved my hands at Mercury. One of the predators decked out in a SWAT team outfit said something as he turned pale. Mercury and Calin looked up instantly. Mercury stood and looked me over, his mouth moving too fast for me to catch a single thing he was saying.

“Slow down, I can't hear you,” I tried saying, and then realized if I couldn't hear him, he possibly couldn't hear me. “Shit!”

Mercury stopped. Apparently, he'd caught that word. Calin was saying something to him. I looked around, trying to find a way to communicate to him, but it felt hopeless. Mercury stood there, staring at me like a small child, and finally, he spoke slow enough for me to read his lips.

Please don't be dead.

I shook my head. “Not yet.” Mercury blew out a breath and said something to Calin, who pulled out his phone. I closed my eyes and focused on Bay. If Mercury was with Calin, then Bay was helping look for me.

 

Bay

 

I stood at my office window watching the city lights two hours after sunset. I received some credible leads from my sources, especially after the body of the Changeur was identified, but so far, nothing panned out. Mercury was with Calin and his group, still trying to track Spectra. In case she was injured, Mercury wanted to be on hand.

Calin called over an hour ago to say they couldn’t find her. I'd tried tracking her drift, but whoever took her circled through the city several times and used the one intersection every time, so eventually I lost that too.

“Are you staying here all night?” Luke appeared at the open door to my office, concern evident in his face.

“I'll stay till we receive word.”

“What about dinner?”

“I'm not hungry.”

Luke nodded as if he expected that answer. “Calin will be back soon. They've driven around a few more times to see if they can pick up her scent.”

The phone on the desk started ringing. Luke picked it up. “Mr. Ryder's office. May I ask who's calling? I'll just see if he is available.” Luke stopped breathing. I heard him physically stop. I turned to look at him and watched the blood drain from his face as he pressed the mute button and held out the phone to me. “It's the call you've been waiting for.”

I crossed the room in two steps, took a deep breath, unmuted it, and put the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Bay Ryder?”

“And you are?”

“That's not important. What does matter is how much Spectra Michaels is worth to you?”

“Put her on the line.”

“No.”

“Then you don't have her.”

“Check your email. I can wait.”

I took a restraining breath and moved to the computer, pulling up an unknown email. There was nothing written, just a photo. I opened it. Spectra lay unconscious on a bed, the sheets arranged just the right way so while she was covered, I could see she was naked.

“You have my attention.”

“Good. I want the antidote, and I will send her back to you unharmed.”

I laughed, and I could tell whoever this man was, he hadn't expected that response. “You greatly overestimate Miss Michaels worth to me. Not to mention, I no longer have access to the antidote. You will need to negotiate with L'Ordre for that.”

The man on the other end of the line cleared his throat. “So she means nothing to you?”

“I like Miss Michaels, she is a very resourceful young lady. While I would hate to see her harmed unnecessarily, she is not worth the antidote. If you were asking for a simple ransom of a certain amount of cash, I would gladly pay that to keep her skills available to me. Would you like to reassess your request?”

“No. If the girl can't get me what I want, I will take what I can from her and leave it at that.”

“I'm sorry to hear that. I understand her husband loves her very much. If you could let me know where to find her body when you are finished, it would be a kindness to let her husband bury her.” I hung up.

Luke stared at me. “Did you have to let that happen?”

I blew out a breath. “If I showed I cared at all, they'd kill her for certain. She must have convinced them she can't cure the beasts or we would never have received that call. So we at least have that.” I picked up the phone. “Evan, did you get a location on that call? Okay, pass those details on to Calin. They sent me an email. See if you can backtrack that as well.” I hung up the phone and went back to the window.

“Did we get a location?”

“No. But we know the call came from the east side of the city. Calin will take his team and wait in that area until we get something new or they see something that gives them a lead.”

“How do we know she's even still alive?” Luke stood by my computer, looking at the photo I'd left open on the screen. “She might even be dead in this picture.”

“Could you kill her?”

“I know her.”

I watched over the city in the direction of the east side. “I could never have harmed a hair on her head from the moment I met her.”

“You're hoping whoever this is feels the same way?”

“Sorcerers spend their lives looking for their balance, Luke. If a sorcerer has her, he may not understand why, but he will find it hard to hurt her.”

My mobile started ringing. I pulled it out and answered. “Henry?”

“I just intercepted a call from the kidnappers to Alexander.”

“And?”

“And I denied any interest in exchanging the antidote for some girl they kidnapped off the street.” Henry blew out a breath. “Alexander left for the evening with his assistant already, so he's unaware of what's happened.”

“She's still alive, Henry.”

“Then deal with it.” Henry hung up. I sighed and put the phone back in my pocket.

“Ah, boss?” Luke called out as his phone started ringing.

“What is it, Luke?” I was losing patience at not finding Spectra. I expected her to somehow reach out to me by now. I don't know how she could, but something told me if anyone could somehow communicate from a prison cell, it would be her. I was starting to think that was an unrealistic expectation.

“You have a visitor.”

I turned and found a faint version of Spectra standing opposite Luke at the desk, her finger pointing to the keyboard. Luke was scribbling on a pad as she indicated different letters.

“Finally! I expected you hours ago.” I moved over to stand beside Luke as he wrote down her letters. She didn't smile. I quickly realized she couldn't hear me and she couldn't talk, so this wasn't her, it was a projection of herself.

She stopped pointing and stood to look at me. It was only then that I realized the white dress she wore was a sheet wrapped around her and tied off like a toga. I looked at the pad as Luke drew slashes to indicate spaces to form words.

“Paul Samus,” I growled. I grabbed the notepad and wrote on it hurriedly. I ripped the page away and held it up for Spectra to read. Her eyes moved over the page, and then she tried to cover herself more with the sheet. She was already scared, her eyes showed me that, and I doubt anything I could tell her now would add to that fear.

She started pointing to letters again. I started writing it down.

Luke picked up the phone. “Evan, we have a name. Paul Samus, he's a sorcerer.” Luke looked up at Spectra and then to what I was writing down. “Yes, she's managed to send us a message, but she's far from safe.”

Spectra's hand stopped moving mid-word and started flexing and clenching. I recognized her nervous gesture and looked up. For a moment that seemed paused in time, her eyes met mine with the most intense fear. Her head turned to the side in a way that made me think an unseen hand was moving her head for her. When Spectra's expression turned to pure terror, I understood she wasn't alone. Her neck moved back at an odd angle, an angle I'd moved women's necks into too often not to know what was happening now.

“Spectra, I'm so sorry,” I murmured.

Her eyes squeezed shut, a single tear leaking down her face. Her mouth opened in a voiceless scream just as she vanished from sight.

Luke cringed and looked away, swearing beneath his breath. He took several deep breaths before he pulled the notepad across in front of him, “No, we just lost her. The only other thing we got is that she thinks she's being held underground. The room looks recently renovated.”

I stood there, watching the empty space where her apparition stood only moments ago. I closed my eyes and dropped my face down, praying for the first time in too many years that we could save her.

“Let me know if it gives you anything.” Luke hung up and stared at the empty space in front of the desk. “Will he kill her outright?”

I shook my head and took a breath. “It's highly likely we just saw the last moments of Spectra's mortal life. Let's go.”

“Where?” Luke queried, collecting his tablet from the desk.

“You're going to dinner, you look famished. I have one more person to see.” I walked down the corridor to the elevator.

Luke caught up by the time the elevator doors opened. “Who?”

I licked my lips. “Remember when I signed the contracts with the NSIO?” Luke nodded. “Alexander warned me that Spectra was protected by people more powerful than him.” Luke looked at me, eyes narrowed. “Who could be more powerful than L'Ordre, Luke?”

Luke shook his head. “His father?”

The doors opened, and we stepped into the elevator. “That's what I thought at the time.”

Luke's eyes went wide. “You think there is someone else?”

“Yes, I do.” The lift opened on the ground floor. “Go eat. I'll meet you back here in an hour.”

Luke nodded and left. He knew I didn't involve him for a reason. I waited for the doors to close, swiped my staff card through the security lock, and pushed a coded sequence in the lift numbers. The lift started its descent below ground to the crypt.

When the lift arrived, I stepped out into the glass foyer and walked up to the reinforced glass doors. The three security guards sitting behind two different sectioned off areas watched carefully as I approached the security check, placed my palm on the print pad, and put my eye at the right level for the retina scan.

The first set of glass doors opened, and I repeated the process at the second set of doors. Once through them, a fourth guard smiled up at me from his desk. “Evening, Mr. Ryder. We weren't expecting anyone tonight. Can I have your code phrase please?”

“My first basic belief is that you first need to realize the usefulness of compassion.” I quoted the Dalai Lama. The voice scanner recognized my voice and matched it to the copy of me saying that phrase on file.

The guard nodded. “How can we help you this evening, boss?”

“I'm here to see Miss Miranda Jackson. She was brought in on the weekend. I'll need a hood. Miss Jackson might be vital to a case we are working tonight.”

The guard stood up, and his handprint let us through the crypt doors, leading us down to the interrogation rooms. We didn't keep prisoners here long. Normally, just until their guilt or innocence was determined, and then they were dealt with. At the interrogation room that held Miranda Jackson, the guard swiped his card and put his palm on the scanner, opening the door for me.

I stepped inside to find Miranda squatting in the corner, still wearing the cocktail dress she'd been wearing when she was picked up. She severely injured five guards when they captured her. Her strawberry blonde hair was straggly, and the dark sunken hollows under her emerald eyes showed me she wasn't being fed. She gave me a haughty smile. “I should feel honored, I guess. The great Bay Ryder has come to deliver me to the executioner personally.”

“That all depends on the next few minutes, and I warn you not to delay. We are on a fragile time frame, if it isn't already too late.”

Miranda's eyes turned dark. “The NSIO took her, didn't they?”

I tilted my head listening. “Now why would L'Ordre take Spectra?”

“The Williams are high up in the office, yes, but in the end, they don't make all the calls. There are some decisions made higher up, by people you really shouldn't trust.”

“You were watching Spectra for years. Did we remove Spectra's protection when we captured you, Miss Jackson?”

“Did you really think I would take her? After everything that girl has been through? She would be the first one to hand herself in for destruction.”

“Who sent you to watch her?”

Miranda leered at me. “Did you really think you were the first predator to want her?” She scrunched her freckled nose. “You were just the first we let have her.”

“Why?”

“Do we have time for this, Mr. Ryder?” Miranda tucked her long lean legs beneath her and stood gracefully. “Or would you like me to retrieve the woman you love?”

I eyed her. “You couldn't know about us.”

She laughed. “I didn't need to, Mr. Ryder. That you are here personally told me what I needed to know.” Miranda cocked her head and gave me a naughty look. “She must be a good fuck to bring you back from the dead. When was she taken?”

“Just after lunch.” I pulled the information we had out of my pocket and handed it to her. “A member of Essence has taken her. They thought she could cure the Changeur de Corps, but when they discovered their information was wrong, they sought to use her as collateral. When that failed...”

“You didn't negotiate for her freedom?” Miranda asked matter-of-factly, flicking through the reports I'd handed her.

“Paul Samus is only interested in one thing, and I couldn't give him that.”

Miranda froze. “Paul Samus took her and held her for...” she looked at her bare wrist and then scowled. “How long?”

“We believe he's held her for nine hours.”

Miranda flicked to the photo I was sent and swore. “Let's go. We're out of time. He'll take her soon.”

“He's already started the process. I managed to warn her, and I'm hoping she will be able to delay him.”

Miranda didn't ask how I warned her. She walked up to the door and held out her arm for me to escort her out. “She can do it, or she'll die trying.”

I pressed the buzzer next to the door. The tray opened and I removed the cuffs, placing them around Miss Jackson's slender wrists. “You sound sure.”

“My predecessor taught Spectra how to defend herself from attack.” Miranda met my eyes as I prepared the hood to cover her head. “If she is taken, the person who sent me here will kill anyone thought to have led to Spectra's demise.”

I nodded and slipped the hood over her pretty face. I took her upper arm and pressed the buzzer twice in succession. The guard opened the door and walked behind us as we moved back to the elevator. At the desk, I signed Miranda out, no one talking through the exchange. When we stepped into the elevator, I pressed the return sequence and took us to the car park. I sat Miranda in the car, walked around to the driver's side, and made for the east side of the city.

“Do you know where to find Samus?” I asked reaching across to pull the hood from her head.

“Essence has several safe houses in this city. Your guy said east side, which only leaves one choice.”

“I have a team ready, they'll go in with you.”

“No. I'll call you when it's done, and your team can go in and bring her out.”

I pulled up behind one of our Range Rovers and parked it. I unlocked Miranda's cuffs before I got out. Calin hopped out of the driver's seat, coming back to see what I wanted. “Boss?”

“Give Miss Jackson whatever she needs. She'll call us once she's secured Spectra.”

Calin nodded and opened the back of the car for Miranda to take her pick of his arsenal. She looked at another member of Calin's crew. “You look my size. I need your clothes.”

The guy looked at Calin. Calin nodded, and the guy stripped out of his gear right there on the sidewalk before hopping back in the car so as not to be seen. Miranda changed out of her cocktail dress and pulled on the black ensemble before selecting a minimal number of weapons and piling her hair under a black cap. I noticed a tiny tattoo of a lily on the inside of her wrist as she tucked the last strand of hair away. It pulled at something familiar in my memory, but I couldn't place it.

Miranda turned back to me. “So, it goes without saying that once this is done, I'll be reassigned.” I nodded, understanding I wouldn't be seeing her again. “Someone will be sent to replace me. If you discover who that is, don't lock them up.”

“I'll try my best.”

Miranda smiled. “I was doing you a favor recruiting her. I never expected you two to meet, though. Even if you don't hire her, don't let her work for the NSIO.” Miranda turned and walked down the street, disappearing as soon as she crossed the road.

“We're trusting a Fantôme to get Spectra out?” Calin queried quietly.

“You got a better idea?”

“No, just checking. What now?” Calin shut the back of the car.

“Where's the Angelis?”

“Inside, why?”

“I fear we're going to need him.” I sat back on the bonnet of my car.

Calin turned to one of his team still dressed. “Go get Mercury.” Calin assessed me quietly for a moment. “How do we know she's injured?”

“She's being fed on and possibly taken as we speak.” I looked at my watch. “We lost contact with her twenty minutes ago.”

“Please tell me you are not talking about Spectra?” Mercury jogged to where we stood.

“I wish I wasn't.” I stood straight. “Will the priest sanctify my place so Spectra can move there?”

“Perhaps, but why would she do that?”

I unfolded my arms and shoved them in my pockets. “Because when you two get married this week, you'll both come live with me. You will have your own wing of the house, we'll even set up a nursery for you. That way Spectra is close to her work, and she just has to come upstairs to my bed in your absence.”

Mercury considered me. “Has Spectra agreed to any of this?”

“I need your answer now. If it's yes, I'll collect your priest and have the place sanctified while you retrieve her. That way, you can bring her straight there and the place will be ready for you both.”

Mercury looked to Calin. “Is he on the level?”

Calin shrugged. “He's in love with her but knows she needs you, and you're definitely the better choice over Williams.”

Mercury lifted a brow. “Yeah, well, I won't argue with that.” Mercury pulled out his phone and dialed. “Mathew, it's Merc. We think we've found her but not sure what state she'll be in. Bay Ryder is coming to get you. We need you to make his house a safe place for us.” Mercury listened. “I share your concern, but it's time we moved on. Okay. And Mathew? Once this is over, you're going to marry Spectra and me.” Mercury smiled at whatever Mathew said. His eyes flicked up to me, mischief in them. “Actually, Bay Ryder will give her away.”

He hung up the phone and raised a daring brow at me.

“I would be honored to give you my wife in holy matrimony.”

Mercury swallowed his smile but nodded. “She was ready to give herself to me whole after he broke her heart too. I held her off because I wanted to make sure she knew the choice she was making.”

“I'm not that nice a guy,” I answered and walked to the driver's side door. “I'll see you at home with our wife.”

 

Spectra

 

To say that Bay’s note freaked me out would be putting it mildly. Death I could cope with. But not this.

He collects beautiful women. He will take you. Delay him as long as you can.

I felt a weight settle over my body just before my hands started to itch, and that's when I realized I was out of time. I wasn't ready yet; I still needed to tell Bay the number on the building, but then teeth were at my throat, and my scream swept through my head like talons to my ears. I slammed back into my body like I'd fallen from a roof. My body jerked under his and I felt his lips turn up where he suckled at my neck.

I instantly started trying to get him off me, but he'd positioned himself well to fend off any defense easily. After a few seconds, I gave up and sobbed as he drained me. I moved my hands across his shirtless back and felt him tense at that electricity that always passed between a sorcerer's bare skin and mine. He lifted his face away from my neck and hovered above me.

“Look at me.” Paul demanded. When my eyes stayed closed, he grabbed my jaw and shook my face gently. “Look at me!” I blinked my eyes open, fighting against the instinct to sleep. “Were you a Nephilim before you died?” I started to close my eyes. He shook my face again. “Spectra! Are you a half-cast celestial?”

“Yes,” I whispered, just wanting to sleep.

“Prove it!”

I struggled but moved my hands up his shoulders to his neck and face. I concentrated and felt joy and excitement. I siphoned off some of his excitement to re-energize myself. The adrenaline kicked in, and I was able to open my eyes and look at him. His face lit up. “Remarkable!”

“You have no idea.” I smiled and then moving quickly, I hooked my thumbs into the inside of his eyes. I pushed in hard and then scooped out to the sides. I felt the squish and burst of fluids around my fingers and over my face. Paul howled and leaned away from me. I shoved him and he fell, screaming in agony. I quickly rolled to the other side of the bed and dropped to the floor.

Paul was gaining his feet. “You bitch! Do you think that will stop me? I'll heal in a matter of minutes, and then I'm still going to take you, Spectra. That way I can make you pay for that for a lot longer.”

I slid under the bed while he yelled, using his noise to cover my movement. I put my hand over my mouth to muffle the sound of my breathing, because for some reason I couldn't stop breathing. Paul became still. I saw his bare feet and trouser pants on the other side of the bed. He was waiting till he healed to find me.

I felt a small puddle forming under my shoulder and moved my hand to my neck. I was still bleeding. He didn't seal the wound when he stopped drinking from me. I sobbed before I could stop myself and Paul chuckled. “I can smell your blood, Spectra. Didn't you realize I didn't heal you?” His feet turned as he took a deep breath. “My eyes are nearly fully reformed. I have all the time in the world, but you, you might bleed out before I find you. Of course, now instead of fighting you, I just have to wait. Within minutes, you are going to be too weak to fight me anymore.”

I grabbed a handful of the sheet still wrapped around me and pressed it to my neck to try and slow the bleeding. I wasn't sure how long he was drinking from me before I came back to myself. I couldn't die here. He would take me, and I couldn't become one of them. I couldn't be a predator. So I pressed the sheet to my neck and willed myself to live.

“Just waiting for my vision to return now, Spectra. How are you going? Are you still conscious?”

I fought the pull into sleep, my eyes trying to close as that weight in my head became heavy, my blood pressure crashing through the floor.

“Ah, here we go. Still blurry and no color, but only a few more seconds to wait.” His feet moved towards the curtains and moved one back. “Tell me. If you're insubstantial when you pass out, do you return to corporeal again like a Changeur when it dies?” I tried to focus on his feet, but they started to become blurry.

“Of course you do. Your body would automatically breathe in.” Paul moved towards the base of the bed, and I lost sight of his feet. “Have you tried breathing out since you've been here?” I closed my eyes longer and forced them open with more energy than it should take. “This safe house is purpose-built. Everything in these holding rooms is controlled. The temperatures, the visibility, the oxygen levels.”

My eyes closed for the last time.

“I'm very good at observing people. When the Changeur went to attack you, you exhaled all your oxygen just before he launched, and that's what made you disappear. The wolf was rather helpful in that he then tracked you for me. It proved my theory when I hit you, and you sucked in air and returned to my vision.”

When Paul's voice came to me next, it wasn't muffled by the bed and I knew he'd found me. “So when I brought you here, I pushed up the oxygen levels so that you wouldn't have a choice in breathing.” I heard a noise next to me, like a scraping on the floor. “Just out of my reach there, Spectra. That is the problem with such large beds, but don't fret, I'll have you out from under there in a moment.”

There was a loud noise outside the door. Adrenaline kicked in again, and I was able to force my eyes open. Paul's feet were back beside the bed when the door burst open. “Who are you?”

Another loud noise roared through the room, and Paul stumbled back until he hit the wall behind him. His knees buckled and he slid down the wall to sitting before collapsing to the side. There was a bloody wound at the neck where his head used to be attached. I groaned and closed my eyes, drifting, my hand at my neck relaxing and falling away.

“Spectra?” A woman's voice called from low and close to me. “Jesus! I'll get you help, honey, just hold on a little longer.” I heard buttons pressing on a phone, her voice muffled. “Two one seven Marshal Terrace. In the basement, room at the very end of the hall. Hurry! I can't help her. I haven't fed in days and her blood is too tempting.”

The footsteps moved away and back to the door and down the hall in a run. I lay there in the darkness under the giant bed, happy to go now. He couldn't take me. That's all that mattered. If I died here now, I'd stay dead. Thunder sounded in the distance, and I smiled when I found myself lying in a field of wildflowers as the storm blew in.

“Where is she?” Mercury's voice yelled across the field. “Spectra?”

“Merc!” Barely a whisper

More thunder, closer above me now, and then sunlight broke through the darkness of the storm.

“Spectra, fight for me,” Mercury whispered softly in my ear.

“How bad?” Calin's voice asked gently.

“She's nearly bled out,” Mercury advised, and then he placed his hands on me.

The field filled with bright sunlight, chasing away the thunderstorm. Noise, smell, sight disappeared. Nothing but the brightness of the sun and the heat of Mercury's hands on my body.

“Fight for me, Spectra,” Mercury demanded. “Fight, goddamn it, and I'll marry you the moment you open your eyes again.”

The sunlight turned to white light. Pure, radiant light poured over me, into me, filling me up. I welcomed that light, bathed in it, lived in it. All I wanted was to be in Mercury's arms and never leave them. I heard Mercury exhale dramatically. His hand swept through my hair and pressed my forehead to his. “I love you too,” he whispered before he kissed my mouth lightly.

“We're good to go.” I felt Mercury lift me into his arms and start walking with me. “Sleep, Spec. It's going to be an exciting week. We've got a wedding to plan, and we're moving house. You wait till you see where we'll be living.”

I pressed my face to his chest and smiled. As long as I was with Mercury, I didn't care where we lived.